NAHL South Division Recap Junior Hockey News

Streaks were ended, and some continued last weekend in the North American Hockey League’s South Division.

The Corpus Christi IceRays were able to end their 15-game winless streak with a shootout victory over the New Mexico Ice Wolves. After falling behind 1-0 in the second period, the IceRays stormed back to tie the game in the third period. After a scoreless overtime, Evan Carroll scored in the shootout to pick up a huge emotional victory for Corpus Christi and end the longest active winless streak in the NAHL. The series concluded with New Mexico forcing a weekend split on Sunday with a 4-3 victory.

In inter-divisional play, the Shreveport Mudbugs completed a weekend sweep of the Springfield Jr. Blues. The Mudbugs edged the Jr. Blues 4-3 on Friday night before completing the sweep with a 4-0 shutout victory on Saturday. Shreveport goaltender Richie Parent made 21 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season.

The Lone Star Brahmas extended their already impressive winning streak with a three-game sweep of the Odessa Jackalopes this past weekend. The Brahmas took the first game by a score of 5-1 on Friday night. Michael Stinil (American International College commit) had two goals in the second period for the Brahmas. On Saturday, goaltender Cayden Bailey recorded his fourth consecutive shutout and his league leading ninth shutout of the season in a 5-0 victory. Sunday’s game was much closer, as the Jacks and Brahmas matched each other back and forth in the first period. Lone Star got out to a 3-0 lead after the second period but the Jackalopes fought back within two, even after falling down 4-1. In the end, an empty net goal sealed the sweep for Lone Star and a 5-2 victory.

Finally, the Amarillo Bulls saw their winning streak end with a shootout loss to the Topeka Pilots on Saturday. After skating to a 6-1 victory on Friday night, the Bulls saw Topeka come back for two separate deficits to tie the game on Friday in the second period. After a scoreless third and overtime, the Pilots won in the shootout thanks to Quinn Green’s tally. The upset ended Amarillo’s streak and helped tighten the race for first place in the south division.

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